Carr cheated on fiance Huntley

MAXINE Carr cheated on Ian Huntley with a teenager on the weekend Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman died in her house. The girls' former teaching assistant was seen "kissing and cuddling" with Mark Thomas, who was then only 17, on a night out in Grimsby.

MAXINE Carr cheated on Ian Huntley with a teenager on the weekend Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman died in her house.

The girls' former teaching assistant was seen "kissing and cuddling" with Mark Thomas, who was then only 17, on a night out in Grimsby.

The towering 6ft 5in young rugby player was eight years her junior but petite 5ft 2in Carr was seen wrapped around him in a pub.

She continued writing to him while she was on remand in Holloway prison charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and assisting an offender.

At the same time, she was also writing to Huntley and keeping in touch with him through his mother Lynda Nixon Huntley.

The relationship between Huntley and Carr then became even more complicated.

While she was in Holloway her lawyers told her that another woman had filed a police statement claiming to have had an affair with Huntley.

Lawyers later argued over whether a woman known to Huntley should be allowed to give evidence in the trial.

In the absence of the jury, the Old Bailey's Court One was told that her evidence may give an indication that Huntley might have been able to go out with her while Carr was away in Grimsby.

In the end he was "disappointed" as she decided to go away with her family, lawyers said.

The judge ruled the evidence inadmissible after the defence objected.

After hearing about the statement from the woman claiming to have had an affair with Huntley, Carr said she asked him in a letter if it was true.

But she told Huntley's mother she was worried her letters were not getting through to him in Woodhill Prison.

Eventually, towards the end of last year, she broke off all contact with the former school caretaker but kept writing to Mr Thomas.

The teenager had been out with friends for a birthday when he met Carr and her mother Shirley Capp on the August 4 weekend - the weekend Holly and Jessica vanished.

Mr Thomas is understood to have faced abuse from people in Grimsby over his relationship with Carr, which he had ended by early this year.

In the trial Carr told the jury she had been devoted to Huntley, that she hoped to marry him and spent much of her time stoically cleaning up after him.

The jurors never heard about her own straying - or her penchant for dancing drunkenly on pub pool tables.

By contrast, Carr did tell the jury she had suspected Huntley of having an affair while she was away in Grimsby.

She described arriving home in Soham to find Huntley had washed their duvet and said her immediate thought was that he had another woman and was trying to get rid of the smell of perfume.

Carr also said Huntley had quizzed her about why she was going out so much while she was in Grimsby.

When he telephoned, minutes before the girls came into the house in Soham, he wanted Carr to stay in and get a video, she said.

Carr said she told Huntley all she was doing was going to see a band with her mother.

She told the jury she texted Huntley back, saying: "Don't make me feel bad when I'm with my family."

Carr also said that, three years ago, Huntley slapped her so hard during a row that her face bruised.

There was no suggestion to the jury that she was being unfaithful.

Mr Thomas had been listed as a prosecution witness but the decision was taken not to use a statement he had given.

The Crown Prosecution Service believed it was not relevant to the case to suggest Carr was cheating on Huntley.

CPS lawyers also feared the defence would be able to argue that publicity around Mr Thomas's evidence would be prejudicial to the case.

In legal argument, while the jury were not in court, Carr's counsel Michael Hubbard QC said: "Sunday night, August 4, she was in Grimsby, a-kissing and a-cuddling with this gentleman in a public house. We want that material excluded."

Prosecution counsel Richard Latham QC said: "The Mark Thomas statement... that report was made about them kissing in Grimsby.

"(It is in the) prosecution skeleton argument, the weekend when she was absent from Soham, and therefore couldn't possibly have been involved.

"There is no issue of misconduct in Grimsby. The prosecution won't open the kissing evidence.

"Should it seek to argue admissibility, the defence could reopen the abuse argument, but we are not proposing to do so."